Former Lives
by Neffa
Summary: Katie is a hunter. She always has been, and she always will be. But running into the Winchester brothers seems to change things for her. Maybe for better, or maybe for worse.


Former Lives

Chapter One

Neffa; 2012

Katie was a hunter by blood. Her mother and father met on a job – love at first exorcism. She was raised just like any other hunter's kid. In cheap motels, diners, and biker bars. She learned how to hustle billiards at the age of twelve. Anyone she faced after that was shit out of luck.

Standing at barely five feet tall, with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes, Katie didn't exactly look the part of a traditional hunter. You know, older, scary, redneck. That kind of thing. She used her appearance to her advantage, though. No demon, creature, spirit or anything ever knew she was coming. It was a fact she took pride in.

Katie had heard of the Winchester family. Their family was just like hers. Dead parents, hunters for kids. The younger boy was about her age. The other, the older, had been to hell and back. Literally. Their father had worked with hers before. She'd even met the man once or twice.

There was just no hunter like John Winchester, they said. Bullshit. They'd never met Katie James.

Katie was just like any other woman. She was twenty-five. She read a lot. Bought nice clothes. Hell, she was from Chicago, not some hick town in Texas. She was normal. Minus the ass kicking and demon slaying. But once you got past those things, yeah. Perfectly normal. And Katie was perfectly content with that.

No vintage, badass car for her. Just a beat up old GMC Jimmy, one she'd saved for and bought herself. Her first car, her only car. She converted the backseat so it rolled back, revealing a hidden compartment underneath. Her arsenal. Rock salt, shotguns, blades of every metal you could imagine, holy water, charms. The works. Katie was prepared for anything they could throw at her.

Well, almost anything.

She wasn't prepared for the angels. Nor for them telling her they had a job for her. That she has a reason for existence.

She wasn't prepared for several near death experiences, nor for failure.

And she certainly wasn't prepared for Sam Winchester saving her ass.

Katie was working a job. Local vampire clan terrorizing a town. Easy. She wouldn't even break a sweat. Vampires were boring. She'd dealt with enough of them in the past to know all their dirty tricks. She was prepared. They were pests. Nothing more.

Their nest was less than a mile from her current location. She was parked off of a dirt side road. Inconspicuous. Grabbing two machete's from storage, she slung a bag over her shoulder, tightened her boots, and took off.

It was just before noon, so she figured they would all be sleeping. You know, being vampires and allergic to the sunlight and all that shit. Katie briefly considered turning back and waiting until nightfall, just for a little more excitement, but shoved the thought away and trudged on.

The nest was actually just a ramshackle old barn that looked like it might collapse at any moment. No big deal. Katie dealt with spooky buildings on a daily basis. She did it for a living, after all.

She crept into the back of the beat up farmhouse, carefully maneuvering herself and her things around the piles of random crap that always seemed to be wherever vampires were. She quietly made her way into the den, senses at their peak, searching for any sounds of movement.

It has sounded so stupid to her at first. Dens, clans, nests. After all, they _had_ been human, once. It sounded stupid until she was forced to kill one, after watching it feed on some innocent young girl. They were beasts. After that, she was unsympathetic. It was kill or be killed, and Katie had no intention of being killed anytime soon.

Katie analyzed the group, debating where to strike first. She counted seven heads. Goddammit, there were supposed to be eight. She had been told there were eight. Now she'd have to hunt the damn thing down. Fuck.

She heard a noise. A whisper, behind her. Machete in hand, she whipped around, apparently scaring the crap out of the two men now in front of her.

"What are you doing here?" One of them, shorter than the other and wearing a beat up leather jacket asked, looking her up and down. "You'll get yourself killed, sweetie. This ain't the place for girls."

Katie's pride took a hit. Cocky bastard. She could take all seven of them with her hands tied, if these idiots didn't get in the way.

"Shut up before you wake them. Or I'll take your head off with the rest of the freaks in there, _sweetie_."

Katie spun around once more, walking slowly into the barns main chamber, where they slept in hammocks.

Except they weren't sleeping. These two morons had woken them up. Fucking wonderful.

"Well hello, lovelies. Have a nice nap? Cause it'll be your last." Katie said with a smirk, stepping into the light. They snarled at her, two of them pouncing at the same time, to which she easily lopped off their heads with her blades.

The next one posed a bit more of a challenge. He was huge – must've been at least 6'8" – with thick limbs and an even thicker neck. He was surprisingly agile for such a moose.

The two danced around chain and blade for far too long. He tried several times, unsuccessfully, to beat Katie down with his heavy chain, but she was too fast on her feet, and easily evaded. She finally got the upper hand, yanking the thing out of his fat fingers, and tugging it around his massive throat. Just as she was about to behead the damn thing, she was hit, hard, in the side and bowled over. Her blades were knocked from her hands as she fell.

Kicking out violently, she managed to strike a small female just under the jaw, sending her flying backwards.

Katie dove to her blades, reaching them just in time to swipe off the head of the giant, who had still been struggling to remove the chain from his neck.

The small female was up again, backing Katie into a corner, snarling. Her fangs were bared – the disgusting things- so Katie assumed she was bleeding somewhere. She could feel her shirt, wet on one side with her blood, hooked on something, so she couldn't move any farther. Mother fu-

Just as the female was about to jump her, she was smacked down by the taller male she'd encountered just a few moments earlier. He sliced off her head and looked over at Katie, who was holding her side and unhooking her shirt from some farm equipment.

"I have a first aid kid in the car. Let me go get it for you." He said, voice soft. She just nodded. The bloodbath was over, and he _had _just saved her ass, after all. She could at least be nice to him.

Seven dead vampires lay scattered across the floor. Considered she'd only killed three of them, the two men must have stepped in at some point.

He came back with a medical kit a moment later.

"You're going to have to stitch me up. I'm in shock, I won't be able to do it." Katie said, voice strained. She rolled up her shirt to just above her belly button, where a large gash was located on her left side.

He pulled out a small bottle of vodka, first pouring some on the wound to clean it, then handing it to her to drink. She did so willingly.

He stitched her up as quickly as he could. She didn't make a sound. She was used to it. She'd done it herself plenty of times in the past.

"So who are you?" He asked as he put his kit back together. She pulled her shirt back down.

"I'm Katie. Katie James." She said, not really caring who they were in return.

"_You're _Katie James?" The shorter one asked, surprise evident in his voice. "I thought you'd be taller. Or you know, less attractive."

"Yeah well. Height and appearance don't do shit towards skills. Especially in hunting."

"Mhm. I bet they don't." He said slowly, looking her over. The taller one noticed him staring and elbowed him in the side.

"Well. I'm getting out of here. Catch you later."

"Wait." The taller one said, catching her arm as she brushed past him. "I'm Sam."

He motioned toward the other man, who was clearly an idiot. "And this is my brother, Dean. How about we take you out for a drink?"

…..


End file.
